Index heavyweights drag Nifty below 7,850; RIL dips 2%

Index heavyweights were the top losers with RIL leading the decline

Markets continued to trade weak in late trades on Monday weighed down by index heavyweights with Reliance Industries leading the decline.

At 2:30pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 208   points at 25,630 and the Nifty50 was down 58 points at 7,840.

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Reliance Industries was down over 2% despite robust fourth quarter earnings because of sequential increase in capital expenditure in the March quarter.

Among other index heavyweights, ITC and HDFC were down over 1.4% each.

Among other shares, Zensar Technologies has dipped 8% to Rs 919 on the BSE after the company reported 2% decline in net profit at Rs 70.20 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2016 (Q4FY16) on sequential basis. It had profit of Rs 71.50 crore in a year ago quarter.

Welspun India has moved higher by 5% to Rs 105 on the BSE in an otherwise weak market in noon deal after the company reported 20% year on year (YoY) growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 193 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2016 (Q4FY16). The textile company had registered a profit of Rs 161 crore in the March 2015 quarter.
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(updated at 12:50pm)
Benchmark share indices continued to trade weak in noon trades on Monday with metal stocks losing the most on profit taking after gains last week. Meanwhile, traders are also turning cautious ahead of the April derivative contracts which expire on Thursday.

Further, investors are eagerly awaiting policy decisions this week from the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan (BOJ).

At 12:50pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 162 points at 25,676 and the Nifty50 was down 50  points at 7,849. In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were trading with marginal losses. Market breadth was weak with 1373 losers and 959 gainers on the BSE.

The second half of the Budget session of Parliament, starting today, is all set to be a stormy affair with opposition parties closing ranks over the imposition of Presidents' rule in Uttarakhand.

The two-day US FOMC meeting is scheduled to start on Tuesday, April 26.

RESULT IMPACT

Reliance Industries was down nearly 2% on profit booking as the stock gained in the past few sessions ahead of the results. It reported its highest quarterly net profit in over eight years as fall in oil prices boosted refining and petrochem margins, helping the company post a 16 per cent jump in earnings for the three-month period ended March 31.

Cairn India dropped 3% after it reported its biggest quarterly loss of Rs 10,948 crore in the quarter ended March 31 mainly because of impairment loss on goodwill and non-producing oil and gas assets due to drop in oil prices.

Sasken Communications was down nearly 4% after it reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 174.63 crore for the March quarter on the back of exceptional income of Rs 298.12 crore.

M&M Financial Services reported a 12% rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 411.33 crore for the quarter ended March 31. The stock jumped 5%.

Zensar Technologies was down nearly 5% after it reported a marginal dip in consolidated net profit at Rs 70.67 crore for the March quarter, weighed down by lower revenue from its maintenance services business.

Persistent Systems slipped over 3% after it posted a 6.24% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs.80.80 crore for the quarter ended 31 March.

BUZZING STOCKS

Bharti Airtel is up nearly 2% as the company is likely to consider a buy back of equity shares in its board meeting on April 27. The board will also consider a final dividend for 2015-16. The telecom major is due to slte its numbers this week.

Tata Motors is down over 1% as it plans to issue non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to raise Rs 300 crore, and a meeting of senior executives and directors will be held on Wednesday.

TCS was up nearly 1% after the company announced the launch of Launches Monitoring and Management Framework for Red Hat® OpenStack® Platform®".

Sensex losers include, HDFC, Axis Bank, ITC, Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki and NTPC among others.